Relief materials scanty

Say flood victims

Flood victims take shelter on Balashir Ghat Road in Gaibandha’s Fulchhari upazila. Around 500 families from nearby villages have been living on the road for the last 10 days with scanty supply of relief materials. The local authorities say over 300 villages are still marooned as all seven upazilas of the district are hit by floods. The photo was taken yesterday. Photo: Mostafa Shabuj

Star Report

Flood victims from different districts alleged that the government allocated relief materials were quite insufficient, as many were still suffering from a crisis of food.

Some victims alleged that the people’s representatives from different local government bodies, like union parishads, were preparing the list for relief allocation with a bias.

However, the disaster management and relief ministry’s senior secretary Shah Kamal denied the allegation and said, “I have not got any such complaints [about a bias] so far. Deputy commissioners of respective districts are properly monitoring relief activities so that the materials are being distributed to the actual victims.”

According to an updated report by the National Disaster Response Coordination Centre (NDRCC), the government has so far allocated over 24,450 tonnes of rice, around Tk 4 crores cash; over 1.04 lakhs packets of dry food, 8,000 tent sets, 2,300 bundles of tin, as well as Tk 69 lakh for house reconstruction.

Over four million people in 17 districts are still affected by the flood, while floodwater has started receding in 11 districts, the report said.

According to a bulletin of the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC), the flood situation in Gaibandha, Jamalpur, Bogra, Tangail, Sirajganj, Manikganj, Rajbari, Faridpur and Munshiganj districts may improve today.

Meanwhile, the water levels of the Teesta, Dharla, and Surma-Kushiyara rivers may rise and heavy rainfall may occur at the northern parts of the country, the bulletin said.

However, flood-hit people were still suffering from a lack of relief materials.

In Sirajganj, over 3.28 lakhs people are still affected by flood, according to the NDRCC.

“My house has been inundated by flood water. But many people, including me, did not get relief materials,” said Lal Mia, a resident of Shahzadpur upazila’s Andharmanik village.

Although local administration officials claim they have distributed 10kg rice to each family, many victims said they got only 8kg each.

Contacted, Sirajganj deputy commissioner (DC) Faruk Ahmed said they had distributed 398.3 tonnes of rice, 3,250 packets of dry food and Tk 7 lakh in cash were distributed among the victims. Each flood-hit family got either rice, dry food or cash money.

Asked about distributing 8kg rice instead of 10kg, the DC said he did not get any such complaint.

In Lalmonirhat, local administration claimed that they had distributed 410 tonnes of rice, Tk 8.35 lakhs in cash and 3,300 carton dry food among the 1.10 lakh affected people.

“We have returned to our home which remained inundated for 10 days. Those 10 days we spent on the road, under the open sky, but we did not get any relief,” said Hasem Ali,56, a resident of Sadar upazila’s Char Budharu village.

In Bandarban, local administration said they distributed relief to around 40,000 affected people.

Around 450 tonnes of rice and Tk 7.50 lakh and 4000 packets of dry food were allotted for 9,242 flood affected people, according to local administration.

The Daily Star correspondent visited some affected areas in Sadar upazila yesterday and found that many were yet to get relief materials.

Contacted, ADC (general) of the district Md Shamim Hossain said they were trying to bring all the affected families under relief facilities. If anyone was deprived of relief, they should come through local people’s representatives to get it.

In Gaibandha, around 5.85 lakhs people are affected by flood.

Contacted, Gaibandha DC Abdul Motin said, “We distributed around 1,070 tonnes of rice and 6000 packets of dry foods. All the victims were provided with either rice or dry food.”

One of the correspondents visited around 30 flood-hit villages in Phulchari upazila, where relief was being distributed according to the list prepared by the local people’s representatives.

However, speaking to over two hundred flood-affected people, the correspondent found that around half of them did not get any relief.